Holy Spider (Ankabut-e moqaddas) (2022)
★★★★☆
Holy Spider, angrily written and directed by Ali Abbasi (Border), is a grisly, reality-based story of violence against women in a patriarchal, theocratic society.
Iran
No Bears (2022)
★★★★☆
No Bears is Jafar Panahi’s latest multi-layered film, boldly showing his plight and that of filmmaking itself in the context of Iran’s draconian restrictions.
Hit the Road (Jaddeh Khaki) (2021)
★★★★★
In Hit the Road by Panah Panahi an Iranian family say so much and yet leave so much unsaid.
Atabai (2020)
★★★☆☆
Atabai by Iranian director Niki Karimi makes the most of stupendous landscapes and reveals its stories gradually.
BFI LFF 2021: Hit the Road (Jaddeh Khaki) (2021)
★★★★☆
In Hit the Road by Panah Panahi at the BFI LFF an Iranian family say so much and yet leave so much unsaid.
Ava (2017)
★★★★☆
Ava is an unforgiving, unforgettable coming-of-age film about a teenage girl’s loss of freedom in Iran from a compelling new filmmaker, Sadaf Foroughi.
3 Faces (2018)
★★★★☆
3 Faces is Jafar Panahi’s fourth film since receiving a 30-year ban on filmmaking (or leaving Iran). It’s an involving, compelling, deeply ingrained criticism of the society it quietly observes.
Cannes Film Festival 2018: Day 6
★★★★☆
Cannes Film Festival 2018
Cannes Film Festival 2018: Day 1
★★★★☆
Cannes Film Festival 2018
Gholam (2017)
★★★☆☆
Mitra Tabrizian’s Gholam stars Shabab Hosseini in an intense story of a lonely exiles alienation from two cultures.
Cannes review: A Man of Integrity (Lerd) (2017)
★★★★☆
Mohammad Rasoulof laments institutional corruption in Iranian society in A Man of Integrity (Lerd).
The Salesman (2016)
★★★★☆
Asghar Farhardi’s The Salesman illuminates universal moral arguments about masculinity by presenting them in parallel with a production of Arthur Miller’s stage play in contemporary Iran.
Under the Shadow (2016)
An original supernatural horror movie set in Iran, Under the Shadow is an impressive debut for director Babak Anvari. Under the Shadow CAUTION: Here…
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Festival Review: A Dragon Arrives! (2016)
★★★★☆
A multilayered blast of mysterious occurrences in the desert, Mani Haghighi’s A Dragon Arrives! is an enjoyable bafflement.